Former for cigarette machines



Feb. 13-, 1940. J. W.-LEAR Y FORMER FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES Original Filed Jan. 8, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR IW W A BY W61 ATTORNEY Feb. 13, 1940. w, LEARY FORMER FOR CIGARETTE MAcHINEs ori inal Filed Jan. 8, 1936 2 Sheeis-Sheet 2 ATTOR NEY Patented Feb. 13, 1940 PATENT orrics FORMER FOR CIGARETTE 'MACHINES James W. Leary, Bloomfield, N. J., assignor to 1 American Machine &'Foundry Company a corperation of New Jersey l Application January 8, 1936, Serial No. 58,129 f Renewed December 28,1938 i 11 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in the rod-formers of continuous rod cigarette machines, its main object being to provide ready accessibility of the same.

iv The rod former is the part of the cigarette machine in which most of the operating trouble occurs and which therefore requires the most attention. For perfect operation of the machine the, rod-former must be kept clean of obstrucl matter, which cause choking" at the tongue portion thereof and at the compressor members; in starting the machine the. cigarette paper must bethreaded through it and, in case of breakage, if) the same must be re-thrcaded; and .the' rod- 'f0rming tapemust be replaced from time to time when worn'out. To perform all thesetasks without undue loss of time, the rod-former in the present invention is made as a separate unit BO- DlVOtGd or otherwise movably mounted on the bed of the machine and provided with a latch so that "it can be loweredwhen necessary and as quickly raised and re-locked in operating position. The rod former may. also be pro- 25 .vided with a'device for raising and lowering it,

soarranged that one-quarterturn of a handle drops the forward end of the rod former just enough to allow, the operatorshand" to enter between it and the bottom of the cigarette rod 39 toanwadequate distance fromsaid lowered end.

Further objects of the invention therefore are to provide mechanism for relatively separating the rod-former and the compressor and locking 1 is a fragmentary elevation of one type 45 of continuous-rod cigarette machine equipped with the improvedrod former and a novel compressor belt;

2 is a cross-section on line 2-2 of. Fig. 1, showing the pivot of therod-former on anen- 50 larged scale; v I r Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-section onv line 33 of Fig. 1, showing the latch and the lowering and raising device;

Fig; 41's an enlarged cross-section. on line 4-4 55 of Fig.1, showingmembersfor-stopping the rod. i

whom such as spilled tobacco, dust and other former when it is raised into operating position;

and p Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of another type of cigarette machine equipped with the improved rod former. 5

Generally stated, the rod former and the compressor are made relatively separable to provide access for removal of obstructions which may cause choking' at the portion of the rod former underlying the compressor. In the particular embodiments herein illustrated the rod former is bodily movable relative to the compressor, andin the best constructions contemplated thecompressor comprises a set of endless traveling belts on to one of which. the tobacco 15. is showered, toncompress the stream of tobacco and deliver it to the cigarette paper web propolled bytherod-forming tape. The particular arrangements selected to illustrate the invention are but certain of many possible embodiments of the invention. The invention therefore is not to .be restricted to the oletails'illustrated and described nor to the particular embodiments chosen as illustrative of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, in the embodiment-oi the invention depicted therein a rod-forming tape 5 driven. by a tape wheel 6, and running'over rollers l, 8, 9 and Ill propels the paper web P from a trough I! wherein a stream of tobacco T is continuously showered on the paper, and pro- 1pels it between side guides 12a andunder a i compressor belt I2, these guides confining the stream of tobacco between the tape and com pressorbelt. The belt travelsaat the same speed I as the rod-forming tape and acts to slightlycompress the stream of tobacco on the paper while the same carries it under the tongue l3 which compacts .the stream of tobacco to the desired diameter. This tongue is a part of the rod former. In passing through the rod-former the 5 margins of the paper web P are lapped on each other aboutthe: compactedstream of tobacco, the overlapped margin being previously coated with paste on its inner face by a paster M of.

conventional construction and the seam so f tongue .i3,u8,1'l angle-bar. lBcarrying the tongue, 6541 a bottom block I 9 on which the angle-bar is removably mounted, a flat bar 20 abutting the forward end of the block I9 and serving to support the portion of the tape 5 underlying the compressor belt l2, and a carrier bar 2| which extends between the trough H and the plate I6 and carries at its forward end the guide roller H] of tape 5. Therear portion of bar 2| is of rectangular cross-section corresponding to the width of bar l9 while its forward portion is beveled to the width of the narrower bar 29.

The bar 2| is pivoted at its rearward end and provided with a raising and lowering device near its forward end, so that it may readily be tilted through a limited extent to afford access to the tobacco on the portion of the cigarette paper web underlying the compressor belt I2 for removal of lumps of tobacco or other obstructions which produce choking. A cross-section of the pivot is shown in Fig. 2. To the bed I! is attached a bearing block 22 carrying a pin 23. The top of the portion of this pin projecting from bearing 22 is flattened to fit the under side'of carrier bar 2|, to which it is fastened by a clamp piece 24. Thus, the carrier 2| is supported on bed I! by the pin 23 which is free to turnin bearing 22.

A suitable form of device for lowering and raising the rod former is shown in cross-section in Figs. 3 and 4. To the bottom of carrier bar 2| is fastened. a block 25 which has a bearing fora long pin 28, Fig. 3, and in which is also fastened a short pin 21, Fig. 4. On the outer end of the pin 26 is mounted a handle 28, and

-;to the end projecting from the rear of block 25 is affixed a cam piece 29 having a curved face of. progressively decreasing radius with respect to the axis of the pin 2'! and a hooked end engaging a thumb screw 39 threaded into bed I1. Upon swinging handle. 28 to the left the hooked end is disengaged from the screw and the curved face of the cam 29' rides on the screw 39, permitting the bar 2| to turn on pivot 23 until the bar 28 reaches its dotted position 28 shown-in Fig. 1, whereupon thetip 29a of the cam piece engages with screw 30 and stops further motion. On swinging handle 28 back the cam 29 causesthe bar 2| to rise until, in the operating position of the rod former, the pin 27. engages a stop 3| attached to a frame member 32 on bed By then tightening screw 30 against the hooked end of the cam 29, the rod former is held in position as long as it functions without requiring attention. Before lowering the rod former, the sealer i5 is swung back out of operating position, to clear the rear end of the rod former overhanging the pivot 23, the overhanging portion moving upwards slightly when the rod former is lowered.

In the preferred form of the invention the tobacco showered from the chute of the cigarette machine feed (not shown) falls through an inverted funnel 32 and is deposited on the traveling forwarding belt 3|a in the form of a continuous stream which is carried under the compressor belt l2 (this arrangement being similar to that shown in Patent No. 1,998,146, granted April 16, 1935, on the application of E. D. Smith) for compression thereby and then delivered between side guides (not shown) on to the cigarette paper P which is propelled through the rod former by the rod-forming tape 5. The latter is likewise driven by the tape wheel 6 and trained over rollers I, 8, 9 and It. The construction of the rod former identical with that shown in Figs. 1-4, wherefore further description thereof is deemed unnecessary. It should be noted, howeyer, that in this arrangement the rod former may be readily lowered from its operative position to permit removal of chokes which may occur under the compressor belt |2.

While the compressor has been exemplified respectively by an endless traveling belt and a set of the same, it will be understood that compressor wheels may be used instead. Such compressor wheels may be arranged at any suitable location relative to the rod former, and may be used in combination with feed and/or compressor belts, a suitable arrangement of a compressor wheel in combination with compressor belts being shown in Patent No. 1,992,749, granted February 26, 1935, on the application of G. W. Gwinn.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a rod former provided with a tongue adjacent its forward end, of a traveling rod-forming tape acting to forward through said rod former and under its tongue a cigarette paper web carrying a stream of tobacco, and means for compressing the tobacco on said web on the portion of the rod former in front of said tongue while it is being forwarded by said tape, said rod former being movable bodily away from said compressing means into a position wherein threading of the paper and the removal of chokes is facilitated.

2. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a rod former provided with a tongue, of a traveling rod-forming tape acting to forward through said rod former and under its tongue a wrapper web carrying a stream of tobacco, a set of compressor belts coacting to compress a stream of tobacco and deposit and further compress the same on said rod former in front of said tongue, members confining the tobacco between said belts and upon the portion of the rod former in front of said tongue, said rod former being movable bodily away from said compressor belts and members into a position wherein threading of the paper and removal of fchokes is facilitated, and a paster operating to apply paste to the inner face of one of the margins of the web, andsaid rod former being adapted to lap the pasted margin of the "web on its other margin to form a seam. i

3. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a rod former provided with a tongue, of a traveling rod-forming tape acting to forward under said tongue and through said rod former a wrapper web carrying a stream of tobacco, a traveling belt overlying the portion of said rod former in front of said tongue and coacting therewith to compress, the tobacco on said web while it is being forwarded, members confining the tobacco between said belt and rod former, said rod former being movable bodily away from said belt and members to a'position wherein threading of the paper and removal of chokes is facilitated.

4. In a cigarette machine, the combination as an entirety about its pivot, of means/for locking said rod former in operative position; v

6. The combination with a pivoted cigarette rod former, said rod former being movable bodily as an entirety about its pivot, of mechanism for raising and lowering said rod former to and from operative position on its pivot.

7. The combination with a pivoted cigarette rod former, said rod former being movable bodily as an entirety about its pivot, of mechanism for raising and lowering said rod former to and from operative position on its pivot, and means for locking said rod former in its raised position.

8. The combination with a pivoted cigarette rod former, movablebodilyasan entirety about its pivot to a position wherein threading is facilitated, of a tape wheel supported in a position entirely below said rod former, and a rod-forming tape trained over and driven by said wheel and threaded through and running alongthe bottom of said rod former and carrying a-stream of tobacco. 1

9. The combination witha pivoted-cigarette rod former movable bodily asan entirety about its pivot to a position wherein threading isfacilitated, of atape wheel supported in a position adjacent said rod former a rod-forming tape v trained over and driven bysaid wheel and threaded through said rod former, and a, latch fortretaining said rod former at operative position.

10. The combination with a pivoted cigarette rod former, said rod former being movable bodily as an entirety about its pivot, of a tape wheel supported in a position adjacent said rod former, a.

wheel and'threadecl through" said rod former, a

latch for retaining saidrod former at operative position, and mechanismior turning said 'rod former about its pivot to raise and lower. itto and 5 1 l from its operative position while said latch is M released.? b p o v l Y 11. In a cigarette machine," the combination with a channeled rod former block, of a tongue it supported from said block,a traveling rod-form- 10 a ing tape acting to engage andforward a paper web carrying a stream of tobacco, under said I c tongue and through the channel of said block, an endless belt travelingdnf a fixed pathoverly v ing' andcompressingthe tobacco on said paper 15" J Web before it is forwardec'l''under said tongue, pulleys permanently secured on fixed axes supporting said belt a bar underlying said belt and said member, bar, and rodforming tape being, movable arcuately in thejvertical plane of the tape to lower said bar with the tape and roller away from saidcompressing belt into position wherein threading of the paper and the removal of chokes is facilitated without afiectingjthe driv ing of either Said tape or said belt.

rod-forming tape tran act andddfiven y said J 7 ,1 

